


Parallels

by AnalyticalTomato



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Couch Cuddles, Diary/Journal, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Homophobia, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Sex, Light Angst, M/M, Matt needs a hug, Possibly OOC, References to Date Night, References to Ruined, Secret Crush, Secret Relationship, Todd is a little shit, and Edd is gonna give it to him, and by that I mean that Edward’s Cola is a drug because it has cocaine in it, and some genuine love, can you tell Matt is my favourite character yet, saloonatics, saloonatics au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnalyticalTomato/pseuds/AnalyticalTomato
Summary: In which Edd reads his ancestor’s diary once more and learns of the secret relationship between him and a certain prince.After Matt comes back crying because of a bad date, the two of them let out their pent up feelings towards the world. And each other. Or maybe both.
Relationships: Edd/Matt (Eddsworld), Edward Gold/Prince Matthew
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	Parallels

**Author's Note:**

> If the grammar seems weird at times, it’s because this fic was in Italian and I translated it to English, but my skills aren’t those of a certified translator yet. Sorry about that!

The two-story house on Durdam Lane, 27 was eerily quiet for a Friday night. Usually its three inhabitants would have been in the living room laughing at a dumb movie together or playing of their beloved zombie shooters, or maybe they would find themselves in some wacky adventure; instead the only sound was the muffled noise of the music Edd was listening to on his headphones, lying on his stomach on the bed in his room, with Ringo on his back and a look of pure boredom on his face.

That week had been particularly lucky for his roommates, apparently: Tom had received an offer for a gig at a bar down town that would keep him out of the house until late at night, and Matt had come home a couple of days earlier explaining with an excited sparkle in his eyes that a girl he met at the hairdresser had agreed to go out with him.  
While Matt clearly adored himself more than any other human being, that didn't mean he didn't have the desire for a loved one with whom he could share said beauty, and Edd knew he should have been happy for him.

Key words, “should have been”.

Edd knew it would have been better to stop thinking about how Matt's date was going (because thinking it was going well only made him feel more depressed, but hoping it was going bad made him feel guilty), but with the house empty he had nothing to keep his mind occupied.

Draw? He didn't feel like it, and besides, with Matt occupying almost 100% of his current thoughts there wouldn't be much... variety in subjects.

Drink cola? Even the sugary drink wouldn't help him forget, and if Tom and his past relationship problems were an example, giving in to a bottle, any bottle, for sentimental reasons was a bad idea.

Go out? ...well, actually...  
Outside there would surely be something useful to distract Edd at least until the end of the night.

-

After spending no less than ten minutes gently encouraging (or rather, begging) Ringo not to sink her claws into his back so that he could get up, Edd got out of bed and, after getting ready, left the house.  
The fresh air already helped Edd distract himself from his turbulent thoughts, but as he stepped out of the residential neighborhood and passed the history museum, he suddenly got an idea.

Edward's diary! Of course!

Edd remembered the afternoon of a few months earlier, when the trio was surprised by a storm during a walk and, after hiding in the museum, they had read the diary of his ancestor (amazing how it had taken him twenty years to discover that he had an ancestor who was so famous you could find him in a museum.)

Reading the story of the trip to America to save Prince Matthew, although he already remembered how it went, would surely be a good way to spend the evening; but as he opened the volume again, Edd noticed something glimpsing from the inside of the mannequin's jacket: after getting closer, he realized that there was a hidden pocket inside the jacket and there was another small book inside it. Curious, he opened it, recognizing the handwriting of his ancestor; at first glance it seemed just like a second diary, dated one year after the previous one. Why was it not displayed together with the other?

With curiosity that had now taken hold of him, Edd began reading Edward Gold's second diary.

~

__

_February 16_

__

_Six months have passed since Prince Matthew was kidnapped during a diplomatic trip to the United States, and I was given the task of finding him, being the closest person to him..._

Edward paused to dip the quill back into the inkwell, but his eyes drifted past the sheet of paper and rested on the framed photo on his desk of him and Matthew. Edward couldn't hold back an amused snort as he thought back to the circumstances that led to that photo.

It had been taken in front of the "A Good Place To Start" Saloon: Matthew, given the joy of seeing Edward again, had literally jumped into his arms, taking him by surprise and making the both of them almost fall to the ground. The bartender Todd, finding the scene rather amusing, had taken a picture of them and given it to the duo just before they boarded the carriage for the port to go home; “Take it as a thank you for how you consumed all my stock of Co-La in one day," he had said, shrugging and grinning under his moustache.

The correspondence with his two American friends had begun shortly after their return to England, and after Thompson also moved to London to... "escape the monotony of the village", those his words, Todd was the only one source of information on how life was going in Spitbucket, but above all, regular source of Cola via postal service, a deal he had struck with Edward since the drink wasn’t popular in Europe yet and the detective wanted, or rather _needed _it.__

____

____

Edward had never been a huge fan of booze, except the occasional beer to celebrate a solved case, and had never tried tobacco as it made him cough. Being addicted to a substance was something entirely new, but it didn’t seem so bad after all. Unlike Thompson, who ended up lying on the floor laughing at nothing after too much whiskey, Edward experienced no ill effects when he drank cola; instead, it was as if his senses sharpened, which made the not always easy job of arresting London criminals a breeze.

But from using it as an occasional aid during his work, the young man began to drink it more and more often everyday, feeling better and better each time; however, as having to wait for Todd to send him more bottles took longer and longer, the lack of Cola made him more tense and grumpy, a notable departure from his usually sweet and peaceful personality.

Even writing in his diary, which usually relaxed him, didn't seem to help him distract himself from the lack of Cola in his system; there was only one thing left to do if he wanted to get back in a good mood. Edward put the quill back in the inkwell and rose from his desk, grabbing his coat and stepping out into the freezing London streets, heading to the royal palace.

~

After the Spitbucket incident, Matthew had been essentially confined to the royal palace, unable to go out even for diplomatic missions or festivities, which were all kept inside where the boy could be protected by the guards and always be safe. But the king and queen knew that Matthew, who had always been curious and eager to visit the four corners of the British Empire (as long as his face wasn’t getting harmed in the process), wouldn’t have liked always being trapped in his own room: so, to convince him, they allowed him to keep seeing Edward, despite their class difference.

It was no secret that there was a strong bond between Edward and Matthew, since they were little kids and Edward's parents worked as servants in the building to earn enough to allow him to study, and in his study time he had stumbled upon a bored, young prince wandering around the castle. Although from a middle-class family, Edward had always appeared to the royals as a smart and polite young man, and when he befriended Matthew the two rulers took it surprisingly well.

When the prince left for the United States, Edward appeared distraught that he could not come with him, but after the news of his kidnapping he was the first to volunteer to save him not worrying about the danger, another reason why the king and queen felt, weirdly enough, in debt to him.

So it did not come off as bizzarre seeing Edward walk through the fancy corridors late at night, on the contrary he was greeted by light smiles and friendly nods from guards or waitresses.

“Edward Gold is here, Your Highness. Should I let him in or..."

“Why are you even asking- of course you do!"

Edward had to hold back his laughter at the clear, almost childlike excitement in the prince's voice.

The guard opened the door to let Edward through, then cast a look at the two young men and closed the door again, leaving them alone.

Edward turned to Matthew and bowed dramatically until he almost touched the ground. “Good evening, your majesty. It is an honor to be in Your presence this evening!" He exclaimed with a deadpan expression.

Matthew pretended to arrange his hair pompously with one hand, giving the other hand to help Edward get up, answering him with an equally serious tone: "Being a magnanimous ruler, as well as strikingly beautiful, I will give you permission to get up and refer to me simply using my name."

The two met eyes for a second, and could not help themselves, bursting out laughing. Edward tried to grab Matthew's hand, but because of the laughter he ended up dragging the other on the floor on top of him, making them laugh even more.

“Ok, enough, enough! I'm out of breath!" Matthew grinned, shaking his head in amusement. Edward let out a last chuckle as he observed the young man above him without being able to stop smiling.  
One of his hands cupped Matthew's cheek, while the other began to play with his ginger hair.  
“I missed you, you know ..." he murmured, as if not wanting to break the calm silence that had been created.  
“I missed you too," Matthew replied, in the same soft tone. “Being stuck here every day is getting more and more boring, I'm so happy you're here... is work giving you a hard time?"  
"Well, serial killers don't really care about my free days, so I'd say yes," Edward replied with an amused tone. “I finally had some free time tonight, and I needed to cheer myself up, a perfect reason to visit you."

Matthew frowned and put a hand over Edward's that was on his cheek, helping him to stand up. “Cheer up? Is something wrong, do you want to talk about it?"  
As vain as Matthew might have been at times, that doesn't mean he was selfish; on the contrary, he cared a lot for the people he loved. This, coupled with his wit (another quality that many overlooked) made him immediately understand when Edward was mulling something over in his head, and was always there to get the detective to rest after a period of particularly hard cases, or to talk about anything that was worrying him.

Edward suddenly realized that part of the reason it had been nearly three weeks since his last visit to the Prince was because, instead of going to Matthew when he was feeling stressed, he had preferred to use Cola, and the lack of it was the main reason of his arrival at the palace.  
He knew it was better not to talk about it: Matthew didn’t like Cola at all, in fact he thought of it as dangerous, although no one else found any problem with it. When faced with Matthew's fears about how Cola and especially the lack of it seemed to make Edward change his behaviour for worse, he’d usually retort with a joke about how himself being so cautious had also made Matthew paranoid, and then would distract him with a kiss.

“It's okay, darling," answered back Edward with a tired smile, lacing his fingers with Matthew's and leading him to the bed. "It's all they work that brings me down, and maybe the weather too... after the sun of Spitbucket, the rainy, cloudy skies feel so gloomy!” The two boys sat down on the bed, with Matthew keeping a worried expression.  
“I don't know... I think you're hiding something from me, and I don't like it. I know you keep drinking that weird drink, and I know you tell me you know what you're doing, but...”

"...yeah, you don't like how I get when I drink it, you’ve told me already-”

“Yes, but at the same time when you don't take it you seem more and more dejected, as if it controls your life! It's just that..." Matthew bit his lip, his icy blue eyes meeting the detective's hazel ones. “As much as I don't like it, I know it makes you happy, and that's all I want... for you to be happy."

Those last words took Edward's breath away; having a handsome and charming boyfriend like Matthew, a PRINCE, looking at him with that soft lovestruck look, and knowing that he loved Edward as much as Edward loved him, still shocked the brunette despite all the time that had gone by.  
And it was those blue eyes, that happy laugh, those soft hands, that wonderful boy that Edward had fallen madly in love with, and he knew it was a fall from which he could never recover, not that he wanted to.  
Even if the world was not friendly with people like him, people like them - sure, Matthew was bisexual, but that didn't change the fact that if he was caught with another man the law would not hesitate to punish him - this had not stopped them from their secret relationship.

(They actually weren’t too sure on how secret the relationship was, given the number of times a drunk Thompson had jokingly referred to Matthew as "Edward's prince charming" or asked the latter why the photo he carried in his waistcoat portrayed the prince in a rather erotic pose, when there were several more... decorous portraits of Matthew out there.)

"...Edward? You're not talking anymore, did I make you mad-”

Matthew ended the question abruptly with a surprised noise that quickly turned into a moan, when Edward pushed him to lay on the bed and climbed on top of him, grabbing him by the hips and kissing him passionately, not holding back all the love and adoration he felt towards the prince anymore, and feeling giddy when the kiss was returned just as passionately by the ginger.

The two broke apart, Matthew not being able to hold back a whine, tangling his fingers in Edward’s hair, as If trying to bring him closer again.  
"E-Edward..."  
"I love you so much..."  
“I love you too ...and I need you, Edward, please-“  
"Don’t fret, darling, I’ll give you just what you need.”

And so the two lovers lost themselves in the night and in each other’s arms.

~

Although were young and hopeful, they both knew it deep down.

They both knew that a day like this would come sooner or later, after all as a king-to-be, Matthew had to get married. Sure, kings who had never married had existed in their history, but those kings still had plenty of (female) lovers, and Matthew, despite his charisma and skill with women, had never shown real interest in any of them.  
That didn’t matter anymore though: his parents had arranged him to marry, and obviously he locked himself in his room as soon as they broke the news to him. Left with no other option, the king and queen turned to the one person they were sure Matthew would listen to: his _friend, _Edward.__

__

__But the detective was having a tough time as well: despite the reassurances to Matthew, the Cola addiction continued, and every day he became more and more reliant on it, and the withdrawal was worse and worse. The day before he was summoned to the palace, he had received a fax from Todd announcing that the crate of soda the bartender had sent him had been lost as the ship had sunk in a storm, and having a new supply ready would take no less than two months; two months without cola was a crazy prospect for Edward!_ _

__

__The two boys were in the prince's room yet again, but the atmosphere was no longer as joyful as before; on the contrary, both were tense and worried, and Edward, who normally between the two always kept calm and patient, was about to lose it. The worried sniffles of his lover only served to annoy him more._ _

__

__“I really don't know what to do, my parents don't want to listen to me, and-"  
“Matthew, shut up."  
“H-huh?"  
“I said shut up, I have a headache that is killing me ..."  
“I told you to stop with that drink before it made you addicted!"  
“Addicted? Oh, stop it with your useless worrying!"  
“Useless? Did you see yourself in the mirror? You look awful!"  
“Well, it happens when you aren’t born into a rich family where you can be as lazy as you want and do nothing that matters and not have to worry about wealth!”_ _

__

__In his mind, Edward knew he was going too far; he had never accused Matthew of being responsible for their class difference before. After all, you couldn't change your wealth at birth as much as you could change your sexual orientation. But the lack of Cola had made him so irrationally angry that he couldn't care less._ _

__

__And then he said something that he regretted the exact moment the words came out of his mouth._ _

__

__“Maybe it's better if you just accept the marriage proposal, you know? So you won’t have to worry about my health anymore and you could spend the rest of your days doing nothing like now, but with a nice little crown on your head, while I’ll do whatever the fuck I want."_ _

__

__Matthew stared at him for a moment, as if he was slowly processing exactly what the brunette had told him. Then, the voice that came out of his mouth was cold and detached, a tone he had never used with Edward before._ _

__

__“If that's really what you think of me, then go away. Clearly you prefer that drug to me, and I won't stop you from living your life the way you want."_ _

__

__Edward knew he should object, apologize, and the only thing he wanted to do in that moment was run to Matthew, hold him in his arms and tell him that he was and would always be more important than some weird American drink, and that they would be able to stay together, that this was not the end, not their end.  
But as if he were no longer in control of his body, he saw himself raising from the bed, walking across the room without even sparing a glance at the heartbroken ginger, and closing the door behind him._ _

__

__As a guard began to escort him out of the building, he thought he heard Matthew burst into tears behind the door. But he knew it was too late now, he had lost his love forever._ _

__

__The wedding of Prince Matthew of England and his bride, a Welsh Duchess, was announced to the kingdom a week later.__

__

_June 18_

_There's a ball tonight to celebrate Matthew and... that woman’s wedding. I don't remember her name, even though I keep hearing it every day for one reason or another. I think my brain just... doesn't want to process what's going on._

__

_I stopped drinking Cola, even though Todd tried to get me to continue, I suppose because my addiction was so profitable. Yes, it was an addiction, after all. Matthew was right, but I didn't listen to him until it was too late. I downplayed his worries, and now I've lost him forever._

__

_Maybe we could have run away together? Going overseas, changing identities like the criminals I worked against in the past had done; or maybe I'm hoping too much, and this love was always going to fail, from that first kiss he gave me so many years ago when we were just getting to know our feelings for each other._

__

_I still love him; I don't know if he reciprocates, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t. But if I could meet him again, in a different way, with different circumstances, then I wouldn't waste any time and I wouldn't lie about how I feel. But I guess writing it now won't do much good, will it?_

__

_Carpe Diem._

The next page featured a black and white photo of an older Edward, probably around 40, along with a young woman and two children. Edd wasn’t too surprised; many homosexual men before the twenty-first century still got in heterosexual relationships as to not be found out.

Well, if reading this was originally meant to distract Edd from his hopeless crush on Matt, it didn't do much good. Not that it had been useless; no, now he knew perfectly well what he had to do. As Edward's last two words said, he had to seize the day, before it was too late for him as well. Alright, maybe his situation wasn’t as drastic as Edward’s, but this had to be a signal!

‘At least Cola has no more cocaine in it,' was his last thought as he walked out of the museum, after putting the diary back in Edward's hidden pocket, safe from prying eyes.

Returning home, he saw a figure sitting on the steps in front of the door. Getting closer, he immediately recognized the orange hair, the purple hoodie and the sad look. Probably the sad look of someone who had forgotten to take the house keys before leaving.

“Matt!" The ginger’s head turned towards Edd's direction, to whom he flashed a timid half-smile. Although Matt was hiding his head between his knees, it was clear that he was crying just moments before his friend arrived. Edd couldn't help but worry, it was barely nine in the evening after all: didn’t dates usually last longer than that?

“How long were you here?"  
“Not too much, it must have been a quarter of an hour since I got back..."  
“Sorry, I went out because I thought you would come back later!"  
“No, it's my fault, I didn't pick up the keys in my rush to go out."

Okay, _that _was weird. While everyone in the house was familiar with Matt and how distracted and sometimes downright stupid he could get, he wasn't the type to admit when it was his fault unless it was something really bad. Certainly not apologising over a couple of keys, unless it was because he flushed them down the toilet. If his confidence was so low that he started to criticise himself for small things like these, it was clear that something was wrong, and Edd felt the sudden urge to push a certain girl straight into some Egyptian traps under their house. The two sat down on the sofa.__

__

____

“Matt, it's obvious that something is wrong. Do you want to talk about it?"  
“The date didn't go very well, that's all!"  
“What happened? What did that girl do?"  
“What? No no, she didn't do anything! At first everything was fine, but then she asked me if we wanted to go home together and she asked about my place, and ..."  
“Were you afraid your room was too messy?" (And it was, despite how many years passed since Matt moved to the second floor, his room was still full of junk, probably dangerous junk as well.)  
“Well, yes, but that's not all."  
“What then?"

Matt's cheeks seemed to get a little more pink. "I knew you were at home and I was afraid of making you uncomfortable."

Oh.

Well, Matt was not wrong, if Edd had been at home hearing his friend (and crush) in bed with a girl would certainly have made him very uncomfortable. But he never imagined that Matt would be so... thoughtful? To think about how he might have felt.  
But after all, however vain and stupid, his friend was not selfish... (even though if he cared that much, he could have just texted Edd about it on the way home so that the brunette would have been out of the house when the couple arrived. But who really cares? Certainly not Edd.)  
Matt's voice interrupted the flow of Edd's thoughts.

"... we quickly realized we wanted different things, so she left right away, and I came back here. End of story."  
“Different things?"  
“I told you, she told me that she hoped for, well, just one night, not that she wanted to actually date or anything."  
“...”  
“...”  
“... I still feel like you’re leaving something out.”  
“Okay, Edd, can I be completely honest with you?"  
“Huh, yeah?”

Matt looked about to cry again. That couldn’t be good.

“I think people just see me as a pretty face. And sometimes it’s tiring. Don’t get me wrong, I know I'm handsome, and I'm glad I'm handsome, and I’m happy other people can see it too, but I know I’m more than that! Yet I never have luck with love, actual love. And sometimes, when it gets too much, I start to think that maybe... I really don’t have anything else going for me, other than looks? So if it’s the only thing people like about me, might as well work on that alone. And that’s pretty much all I’ve done these past years.”  
Matt turned to Edd, the latter watching him with widened eyes. Matt gave another sad smile - Edd both loved and loathed that sad smile - and reached for a tissue, sighing.

“Sorry for the rant, heh. Although I guess now you know why I love my mirrors so much? I know this is probably not what you expected, it’s just... I trust you, and I wanted to be honest with you.”

Edd’s mind was all over the place, like he didn’t really know how to react. He suspected there was a reason for why Matt acted so vain, especially since it came out of nowhere a little after they had moved in together, but Matt was right- he wasn’t expecting this. And yet...  
Edd has always known it, he always knew that Matt was more than a pretty face. Sure, he was easily distracted, messy, and naive, but he was also cheerful, affectionate, cared so much about his friends, and he had moments where he could be smart and witty just as much as Edd and Tom; for someone so susceptible to other’s judgement, the girl’s comment about only wanting him for a one night stand and nothing more must have hurt him. Especially since she could have just said it before the date instead of... well... leading him on.

Edd wanted to do something, anything to make Matt feel better, so he did the first thing that came to mind: he hugged him tightly, resting his chin on Matt’s shoulder and starting to stroke the ginger hair with one hand (hey, it was really soft, what could he do?), while the other reached for Matt's hand, taking a reassuring hold of it. Matt looked surprised by the action but didn't object; instead, he squeezed Edd's hand tighter, as if he were afraid the brunette would leave at any moment.

“Matt, I'm really sorry that the date didn't go well, but I want you to know that being pretty isn't your only quality, and that if that girl didn't notice, she's the one who lost you! And personally...” might as well go all the way, right? “I think you’re wonderful and I’m... glad you’re in my life. And I wish you could be in my life in the future too.”

It wasn’t the confession Edd had daydreamed about, he wasn’t even sure if counted as a confession if he didn’t mention the word “love” once, but it was enough for him. And given Matt’s expression, he caught up to what Edd meant anyway. He knew the ginger was smarter than it looked like.

Speaking about the ginger, if Edd's heart what started beating faster, Matt's was about to explode; he was so needy of affection that just a hug had practically melted him. Or maybe it was because Edd usually teased him, and even though they both knew his sarcastic jokes weren't made because he actually disliked Matt, receiving a genuine compliment from Edd made Matt feel the happiest he had ever felt since... well, the last time Edd complimented him. And given Edd’s soft blush and their hands still intertwined, maybe Matt could hope Edd did mean to say what he hoped he meant.

“You're right, Edd," Matt concluded, wiping the last of tears from his face and giving Edd a smile so bright that the artist thought his face couldn’t get any warmer. “I don't need a girlfriend if I have you by my side... you are much more important.”

Matt secretly hoped he hadn't screwed up with that last sentence and feared Edd would break away from him nervously joking about how the situation was becoming too gay for his liking. Was it too much? Did Edd think he was using him as a rebound? Should he stop questioning himself so much?  
But Edd, funny, kind, loveable Edd, did nothing but return Matt’s smile with a look that spoke louder than words, and then gesture to the TV and ask: "Want to watch a film together while we wait for Tom to come back?"  
"Sure!"

And even though there was no actual "I love you" from either of them that night, it was enough for them to reveal their feelings to each other (and in a way, to themselves), and both of them were okay with that; of course, they would go slow, but eventually they would get there.

And no one would deny them happiness this time.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by how, on Christmas Day, me and my muse Den were watching Saloonatics on a video call and realised that:  
> 1- Cola at the time still had cocaine in it, and that was why Edward acted... like that;  
> 2- Edward clearly had the biggest crush on prince Matthew;  
> 3- I needed to start writing about all the Eddsworld fanfictions my muse and I imagine.


End file.
